The Wildlife Trusts has called on the Government to make councils redraw their local planning strategies to prevent hedgehogs from dying out.

Town halls should create 'green corridors' in towns and cities to preserve wildlife, while the public should make small openings in garden fences for hedgehogs to access, the Trusts said this week. A recent survey showed that the number of hedgehogs in Britain has fallen from 36 million in the 1950s to less than one million today.